Rion fell to his knees with both hands resting on the ground. A few seconds after the needle struck his shoulder, he felt stuffy, he felt stuffy. His heart was pounding, and his body temperature rose drastically as if a fire was burning him from within.
By the second, his condition was getting worse, as he started to sweat, his ears were ringing, and his vision was blurry.
Ten meters from him, from behind a tree, a purple-eyed girl was watching.
"Yeah!! It worked!" She smiled triumphantly. "I'm sorry Big Brother, it would feel a little bad, but all of this is for my future and the future of the Panthera Kingdom."
"Princess Anwen?"
"Huh?" The girl's eyes and mouth widened when she heard a voice from behind. She pressed her lips when she saw the king's wild dog appear behind her. "Tri-Trishy? You? Hi, how are you? Hehe."
Anwen smiled awkwardly and started to get nervous when Trish looked at her appearance in a Panthera soldier's uniform. He saw a vial and a small needle-thrower device she was holding.
"I-I can explain," Anwen said with a wry smile.
***
Dew dripped from the leaves when the wind blew.
"WAIT.. WHAT?!" Trish could barely breathe from being so shocked by the explanation from the 17-year-old girl in front of him right now.
It turned out that Anwen had participated in the battle against Redragon. She had followed them secretly all the way here to complete a ridiculous task from Her Highness Cristela, the king's grandmother. The task was to give Anwen's handmade aphrodisiac potion to King Arion.
Well, Princess Anwen, the grey-haired girl with a very short haircut that resembled a boy, was an amateur alchemist. And one who liked to cause trouble with her strange inventions.
Unfortunately, Trish and Arion often became the object of the girl's experiments.
Anwen excitedly explained that the aphrodisiac potion she formulated with fairy powder had very extraordinary properties. One just needed a drop to make anyone turn into a beast. Ahem.. a beast in bed.
It seemed Her Highness Cristela was already very frustrated, thinking of the next succession to the Panthera throne. Just think about it, since Rose's death, Rion seemed to have lost interest in women.
Whenever Her Highness Cristela discussed marriage, then Rion would immediately dodge. He avoid the conversation about marriage and children like the plague. However, his grandmother was one persistent woman.
One day, Rion was really fed up with his grandmother's insistence on marriage, he issued a decree stating that 'Anyone who discusses marriage before King Rion will receive the punishment of get their tongue cut off. This decree applies to everyone, INCLUDING HER ROYAL HIGHNESS CRISTELA D-PANTHER.'
Meanwhile, the reason why Anwen had accepted the ridiculous task was that she wanted to save her own butt.
If Rion didn't have any children, then their grandmother would marry Anwen off to some lords, so she could give birth to an heir for the Panthera throne, and Anwen was completely unprepared for that. So either way, she would make sure her brother have a child.
"Now wait and see. Soon, Rion junior will be born… hehe.." Anwen's smile broadened, her face lit up like a flower that had just bloomed. However, both of those things faded as she noticed Trish's scornful gaze.
"W-why are you looking at me like that?"
"Do you want to see a fool, Your Highness?" Trish asked without any clear context.
"What do you mean?" Anwen furrowed her brows, not understanding.
Trish tilted his chin toward Princess Anwen's reflection in the water, which irritated the Princess, but Trish didn't care.
"Arion junior will be born IF His Majesty the King found a woman… BUT WE ARE CURRENTLY IN THE FOREST! There are no women here! Only monkeys!" Trish spoke with such emphasis, as he looked very irritated about the girl in front of him.
Anwen suddenly hiccuped.
Oh my gods… that's right, they're in a forest.
There were no women here, only monkeys.
Whoopsie!
Her breath hitched, and her eyes went round. Slowly, her forehead turned blue. Anwen suddenly thought of something horrible.
"Tri-Trishy, w-what if my brother did that thing with… uhm.. a monkey, and then, uhm...the monkey becomes pregnant?"
"Nonsense."
"Humans and monkeys are one species, right? At least we are closely related. So… it can happen…." Anwen said, quietly as she bit her fingertip.
She swallowed hard.
Trish shuddered. The heir to the mighty King Arion D-Panther is... a half-monkey? Ah, his heart couldn't bear to accept that fact.
"Oh my gods… Big brother!" Anwen frantically rushed to get to her brother, but the figure she was looking for was no longer there.
***
Meanwhile, Rion didn't know where he was now. He staggered while holding his head.
Was he poisoned? Yes, he would think that, if only all the symptoms he felt were not accompanied by itching below the stomach and wild imaginations about women.
He knew the reaction was not of poison but an aphrodisiac. Ah, this must be his grandmother's doing.
Her Royal Highness Cristela once mixed an aphrodisiac into Rion's drink on Anwen's fifteenth birthday. However, at that time, the effects were not as severe as now. He really couldn't believe what his grandmother did. The old woman didn't even care which woman her great-grandson would be born from.
It seemed, at this point, any woman would do.
When Rion realized that the symptoms he got were caused by an aphrodisiac, he immediately ran to hide himself. He was worried that his grandmother would also send women to seduce him.
"Arrgh!" his hand rested on a tree trunk, his sweat dripping like rain. In the past, the effects he endured weren't this strong.
Shit! Shit! Shit!
All the symptoms he felt continued to grow by the second.
"Ah!" He really couldn't stand it, his heart begged that the 'evil spirit' inside him would not come out and he would not meet with a woman. However, his request was never granted.
"Hahaha. HAHAHAHA!" Rion laughed like a maniac, but in the next second, he was crying while muttering about life being unfair. The next second he barked like a puppy.
"Arrgh!" He shook his head a few times and stayed still.
His body was burning, his lower stomach was rumbling. He really wished he didn't meet a woman but–
Crack!
The sound of twigs being stepped on made him startled. He shook his head once then turned to see what was behind him and that… and that… Rion saw the last thing he wished to encounter, which was a woman.
A woman in white was standing three meters in front of him. For some reason, when he saw the woman, it was like seeing a swan.
He looked at her, blurry from bottom to top. The woman's body was wet and the clothes she was wearing stuck to the flesh to reveal her sexy curves, especially at the bottom which was covered by a short skirt.
Drops of water from the skirt that fell between the two exposed thighs made him gulp.
The sight burned his desire to a boiling point, he.. ugh, he couldn't take it anymore.
Run and save yourself!
He wanted to shout those words to the woman, but he couldn't find his voice. His throat was parched.
Now he felt starved and wanted to eat a swan. A sexy swan.
Shit!
His imagination of the woman in front of him really started to run wild.
"No! No way!" He clutched his head and fought against himself.
With his remaining consciousness was only the size of bacteria, he ran and distanced himself from the woman. However… the woman chased after him instead!
That's it! That woman must have been a seductress sent by his grandmother.
While running and maintaining his sanity, Rion looked at the river earlier as he noticed how he was in complete chaos. He thought he was running north but actually, he was running south, while the 'temptress' was still chasing him.
His grandmother must have paid her very dearly for her to be this determined to do her job.
Odette woke up from her stupor and found herself in a river in the forest.She was quite surprised that she was still alive and her limbs were still intact. She didn't suffer any serious injuries but only a few abrasions.She was relieved. At first, she thought that she had been eaten by a crocodile but apparently not. Pfew…Then what did she see when she almost lost consciousness? The surrounding water was red and shining?She inhaled deeply, then exhaled slowly. What she saw was definitely just a hallucination. The girl straightened her clothes, then stood up and looked around. In front of her was a river, and behind her were trees.Where was she?Aish, she must have been stranded very far away. She knew for sure that there were no forests around her town.After Odette was silent for a while and regained her composure, she felt better. She decided to leave the place. If she drifted all the way here, then she could definitely find her way back to where she came from."Arrgh!"Odette
Odette had given up hope to fight back! Tears started to leak out from the corner of her eyes as she lost hope that she would get out of there as a virgin. Who cared if the man was handsome or not? This was against her will! She started crying.Rion, who was already preparing to carry out the final execution, suddenly froze when he saw tears flowing from the corners of the women's two eyes. He immediately pictured Rose's eyes crying when he looked at her from behind the bars of the cell.Rion was stunned. He quickly pushed himself away from her and stepped back, as if he had just received a no-parking warning from Rose. With staggered steps, he continued to walk backward until he accidentally fell into the estuary behind him.GULP GULP GULP.The cold sensation of the estuary extinguished the fire within him and removed all the aphrodisiac effects he was feeling.Meanwhile, Odette had taken a seat on the ground. She panted very hard. Her whole body was shaking and she felt numb. She wa
Odette entered the thicket as she chose the route she had previously decided. In her opinion, it was better than going up the slope following Rion.Which fool would follow the one who nearly harmed him?The girl walked through the tall bushes that obscured the view almost like a show curtain. She used the branch in her hands and swatted it against the vines that blocked the way.Odette really hoped to find a way out of the forest, but the more she walked, the darker and darker the surroundings became.For a moment, she stopped and looked around. For some reason, the place felt unsafe, and the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood up when she felt a gust of wind pass by.The gust of wind was as warm as... someone's breath behind her ear.Something went wrong.Odette turned her head back stiffly and instantly froze. Her heart felt like it had just fallen into her stomach when she saw the face of a big bear plastered clearly and distinctly in front of her face.ROAAAAAARRR!The bi
Night fell and stars spattered the sky. It looked so beautiful. However, there was a more amazing sight.Hundreds of red roses grew on the land that lay wide. A gust of wind gently swayed the petals of the flowers. A sweet fragrance perfumed the air while the golden coloured moonlight gently shone on the flower and made its beauty shine even more.Surely anyone who saw this thought that the roses were not from the earth but from the garden of heaven.Among the flowers, Rion stood and stared at one of the rose petals that was there. A petal that was still a bud and had not yet opened. Maybe when the sun rose tomorrow, then the bud would open?Rion's hand moved slowly and touched the flower petals gently and carefully.Rion smiled, but his eyes stared sadly. His hazel eyes were a mist of sadness.From a distance, two servants and a soldier looked at their king who was in the middle of the rose garden.Call them servant A, servant B and the soldier."Even though it has been six years, th
Slowly Odette began to open her eyes. The first thing she saw was a silhouette of a person's shadow until a few seconds later, it became clear."Huh?" Odette was surprised to find the face of a purple-eyed girl so close to hers."You finally woke up," said Anwen with a sweet smile."Wh-who are you?" Odette immediately got up. The hunching Anwen looked at the face of Odette, who looked like she was about to wake up. She thus stood up straight.Odette's eyes wandered, and she found herself in a very strange place again. She was in a golden room. On the walls, there were decorative paintings, that if one looked closely, they all looked like… roses?Odette's blue eyes shifted to the grey-haired girl standing next to her, then to the two women standing behind the girl. The clothes worn by the two women reminded Odette of the maid outfits she had seen in the colossal dramas her mother always watched.Where was she now? And who were these pe
The wind blew the long grey hair of the man who was stood with the pointed sword aimed at Odette. His cold hazel eyes glanced at Trish who was standing behind him, then drew back his sword. And without a word , he just walked past Odette. The surprised Odette turned her head and continued to see the back of the man, who continued to move away. "Are you okay?" "Huh?" Odette turned back to the front and found a brown-haired man bent over while giving a helping hand. Handsome. Those were the first words that crossed Odette's mind when she saw Trish's face. After three seconds of fascination, Odette finally nodded and took Trish's hand to stand up. As soon as she stood up, Anwen jumped from the window that Odette had previously passed. "Miss Ody, what are you doing here?" asked Anwen as she stood by Odette. "Ody? So your name is Ody. Nice name. I'm Trish," Trish introduced himself as he reached out for a handshake, but Odette just smiled wryly and stepped back slowly, which made Tr
Rion stared at Odette in silence until a few seconds later, he said, "I'm sorry. I misunderstood."Odette's eyes blinked. She doubted what she heard. "Huh? W-what did you say?"Before he gave a response, Rion first took and put some food dishes on his plate."Yesterday, I was senseless and under the influence of an aphrodisiac. I hope you can forget what happened yesterday. I didn't do it on purpose," he said in a flat tone but sounded very annoying in Odette's ears because Rion seemed to have no guilt at all. Even Rion seemed to think that what happened yesterday was a trivial matter.Odette looked back at the man in front of her sarcastically. "You think the memories in the human brain are like android data that you can store and delete at will?"Hearing the word 'android' Rion who was about to put a spoon into his mouth suddenly stopped and looked at Odette with one eyebrow slightly raised."Andr ... andro what?" He asked, but Odette paid no heed to Rion's question.The brunette wo
The sun's rays slowly began to sting.Odette was currently in Rion's study. She carefully stared at the image of a large open scroll on the table. If one looked closely, one could see that it was the picture was a map. While Odette tried to read the map, Rion who was seated across the table watched Odette as well as Trish who now stood beside Rion.Odette was currently looking for the name of her country. After breakfast this morning, Rion asked where Odette lived because he would send Odette home if Odette wanted to go home. But when Odette mentioned the name of the city and country, the man didn't understand at all.Odette was annoyed because she felt Rion was playing with her. Rion no longer knew how to make Odette understand that the country she mentioned didn't exist. So, he finally invited Odette to look at the map to find her own country.Odette had been looking at the map for an hour but couldn't find the country she was looking for. In fact, she realized that all the name
“Doctor Ody.”“Mia?”Mia smiled and sat beside Odette.“I know you’re feeling scared right now, but we can definitely handle it properly,” Mia said reassuringly.“You’re not afraid of him?”“When Bee was born, and I saw him for the first time, I cried because I remembered when Alvin was born. At that time, I didn’t want to see his face because I hated his father so much. Every time I remembered that, my heart hurt, and I felt bad for having such a thought. Alvin doesn’t know anything, so why should he be hated?”“Mia...”“Bee doesn’t know anything either. He’s a sweet child with a heart as pure as an angel. Why should I be afraid of him?” Mia smiled, then looked at the sky. “Since my parents died, I don’t have anyone anymore. People who should be called family actually treat me like trash. Perhaps even tr
“Odette!” Hans finally came. He quickly approached Odette, who was struggling to get away from one of the firefighters who were holding her and preventing her from getting closer to the flames blazing the house.“Senior, help Bee! BEEE!” Odette let out a hoarse cry.Then Hans was stunned to see Bee being carried out by the firefighter. “Bee?”“Baby, Honey.” Odette immediately dragged her wobbling feet to approach the child, carefully taking him from the firefighter. “It’s okay, Honey. Mom is here. Mom is here.” She rubbed Bee’s back and kissed him as she hugged him so tightly. It wasn’t long before Bee suddenly lost consciousness.“B-Bee? Bee!”“Let’s take him to the hospital!”Odette and Hans rushed into the car and took Bee to the hospital. Arriving at the hospital, Bee was handled by the doctor immediately.“Bee…
In the palace garden, Rion, Trish, and Anwen sat together while enjoying dessert.“What?” Anwen and Trish were shocked to hear of Rion’s plans to retire and leave Panthera.“Are you serious, Your Majesty?” Trish asked hurriedly. “What’s wrong? Why so sudden?”“It’s not sudden. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time.”“Then what about Panthera?”“There is you.” Rion casually said it as though it wasn’t something serious, then cut the cake in front of him before eating it in delight.“What?” His eyebrows raised a little upon noticing the sharp gaze from Anwen and Trish. The two of them couldn’t believe what the king had just said.“Your Majesty, your joke isn’t funny at all,” Trish said flatly.“This isn’t a joke.” Rion took a deep breath and then looked up at the sky.
Betelgeuse, Alpha of the Orion constellation.Betelgeuse D. Panther was the star in the hearts of Odette and Rion.“Bee...” Odette kept smiling as she watched Bee’s sleeping face. When the boy was asleep like this, he became very calm.Somehow, every time she looked at Bee, she was like seeing Rion’s figure when he was small.“Mom… Zzz…”“Mom’s here.” Odette chuckled when she heard Bee calling out to her. She remembered Rion also calling her name in his sleep. Indeed, Bee really was the son of Arion D. Panther.“Sweet dream, Honey,” she whispered and kissed the boy’s forehead.She then got off the bed then left the room, walking towards the living room. When she arrived, she saw Mia was busy with piles of fabrics that needed to be sewn.“Mia.”The young woman stopped her activities and turned her head naturally.&ldqu
“Drystan,” Rion called the young man again, and this time, Drystan cast his gaze at him.“Is my father…?” Drystan wanted to ask about his father’s condition but couldn’t finish his sentence. The words stuck in his throat as though, deep down, he had already guessed it.“Did you already know about this?”Drystan nodded with a faint smile, but sadness was evident in his eyes. He told Rion that before going to the capital, he went to Bosa with his father. When his father found out that Aathreya was dead, and so did Rion, he decided to take that step.“He regretted that he never gave any happiness to Odette. If you died, Sister Odette would definitely suffer a lot, and he didn’t want her to suffer anymore. I told you that my father deeply regretted all the things he had done in the past, and now he had proven it. That’s it, I’m leaving,” Drystan said in a self-deprecating man
“Big brother?” As Anwen saw Rion’s fingers moving slightly, she rushed to kneel beside him, followed by Dario.As Rion’s consciousness returned, Dario’s consciousness actually faded.“When… when you meet your sister-in-law, tell her that I’m sorry,” Dario said while looking at Rion wistfully.Anwen was silent. She didn’t give any responses, as she wasn’t sure if there would be a chance to see Odette again or not.Dario’s eyes quivered. They slowly closed before opening again, closed again, and opened again. This continued until his body slumped to the ground helplessly. Luckily, Anwen immediately reacted and supported his back.Dario’s eyes were still open, and he looked in a daze at the cloudy sky above him. At this moment, he had sunken into his trove of memories of Odette.‘I DON’T HAVE A FATHER! MY FATHER IS DEAD!’The image of Odette
Rose sat by the river while Rion lay on her lap, enjoying every second of their togetherness.“Rose, I’m sorry,” Rion said as he looked at the woman, holding her hand, which stroked his forehead gently.Rose smiled gently. “You’ve said it 100 times.”“I am so sorry.”“You’ve said that a hundred times already.”“Since you left, I couldn’t breathe properly every day, and something invisible kept tightening my heart.”“Yes… You’ve said it, and Lucas also told me.”“Lucas?” Rion got up and looked at Rose questioningly.“Yeah. He said Trish told him about it.”“Trish?”When Rose told him everything Lucas had told her, Icarus arrived at the Rose Garden. Anwen was surprised to find Dario and Saintess Angela there.Dario hopped onto Icarus’ back and carried Rion down
Aiden was finally gone as his body was destroyed from within by the combined power of Rion and Aathreya. However, although Aiden was dead, the problem wasn’t really over because Gerald’s soul had already left his body and resided in Rad’s body instead.At the moment, Gerald was floating in the air, under the purple eye that still stood firm in the sky. He raised his hands to activate the Divine Eye, but Icarus came and breathed out a powerful flame, forcing Gerald to move away to escape it.“Narine?” Anwen muttered when he saw the little fairy on the back of Icarus flying towards her.“Get the king onto Icarus’ back,” said Narine briskly.“What?” Anwen and Trish felt puzzled.“Just do it if you still want to meet the king!” Narine exclaimed in a bit of a hurry as if she was being chased by time.Roul, who was listening to their conversation, nodded to Trish as the man lo
Swoosshh…The wind blew against the leaves of the shady trees while the blooming rose swayed gracefully and gave off a sweet fragrance. Several butterflies flew around and perched from one flower to another, showing off their stunning wings.Odette walked among the roses while looking right and left. That place reminded her of the Rose Garden in Green Castle, or… was she actually in the Rose Garden?Her gaze swept around the area, looking for the Green Castle building, but no matter how far she looked ahead, she didn’t see the building anywhere.Tap!Her steps came to an abrupt halt when her eyes fixed on Rion’s figure, who stood a few steps away from her. The man was wearing a charming white cloak with gold thread fluttering slightly. For some reason, Rion looked more handsome than usual.“Rion?”The man smiled gently at her.Seeing that, Odette couldn’t help but feel an endless joy